Gauhati High Court
Sanmanjay Basumatary vs The State Of Assam on 20 April, 2021
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
Page No.# 1/6
GAHC010059382021
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : Bail Appln./752/2021
SANMANJAY BASUMATARY
S/O BIJENDRA BASUMATARY, R/O VILL- WEST BISHMURI, P.O.-BISHMURI,
P.S.-KOKRAJHAR, DIST-KOKRAJHAR, ASSAM, PIN-783370
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM
REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, ASSAM
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A K BHUYAN
Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
Date : 20-04-2021 Heard Mr. A.K. Bhuyan, learned counsel for the accused-petitioner and Ms. S.K. Borah, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State of Assam.
2. By this application under Section 439, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), the accused-petitioner viz. Sri Sanmanjay Basumatary has prayed for his release on bail as he is in custody in connection with Runikhata Police Station Case no. 101/2020, registered under Page No.# 2/6 Sections 120-B/121/121-A/122, Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Sections 25(1-A)/25(1)(a), Arms Act, 1959 read with Sections 4/5, Explosive Substances Act, 1980, after being shown arrested in the case.
3. Learned counsel for the accused-petitioner has submitted that the accused-petitioner has been arrested merely on the basis of suspicion and he has been shown arrested only for the reason that at an earlier point of time, he has been arrested in connection with another case i.e. Gossaigaon Police Station Case no. 51/2021. By referring to the First Information Report (FIR) of Runikhata Police Station Case no. 101/2020, he has submitted that it was indicated therein itself that the persons involved in concealment of the arms and ammunitions recovered could not be identified during the preliminary investigation. The accused-petitioner is a contractor by profession and he has been falsely implicated in the case purportedly for the fact that he is a supporter of a political party which was in power earlier and is not in power at present.
4. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor has produced the case diary. It has been submitted by making reference to the materials in the case diary, that the accused-petitioner has been found involved in dealing in arms and ammunitions as he has been arrested in connection with Gossaigaon Police Station Case no. 51/2021 along with few other accused persons. They were apprehended in that case when they together were transporting arms and ammunitions in a vehicle. There is every possibility of involvement of the accused- petitioner in the case in hand also.
5. In the FIR lodged by a Sub-Inspector of Police, Runikhata Police Station on 05.12.2020, it has inter-alia been stated that a secret information was received regarding concealment of huge cache of arms and ammunitions in the jungle area of Sidhapara (Chirang Reserved Forest) under the said police station. Accordingly, a General Diary Entry no. 88 dated 05.12.2020 was registered. A team of police personnel had thereafter, conducted a search operation in the jungle area of Sidhapara from 06-30 a.m. onwards on 05.12.2020. During the said search operation, digging was done at several places. At about 08-30 a.m., search operation was made at a spot inside the jungle area with the help of NLJD and deep search metal detector. Upon such digging, two packets, wrapped with tarpaulin Page No.# 3/6 sheets, were recovered which were kept hidden under the ground. Upon opening those packets, huge number of arms and ammunitions were recovered and the same were seized in presence of independent witnesses. The descriptions of seized arms and ammunitions have been given in the said FIR as under :
SL. No. Description of seized Arms and Ammunitions Quantity 01 Factory made Rifle 1 no 02 Factory made magazine 01 no 03 9 mm Factory made Pistol 04 no's 04 9 mm Factory made magazine 04 no's 05 7.65 mm Factory made Pistol 02 no's 06 7.65 mm Factory made magazine 02 no's 07 7.62 mm AK Series Live Ammunition 09 no's 08 9 mm Live Ammunition 07 no's 09 7.65 mm Live Ammunition 02 no's 10 Chinese hand grenade 02 no's 11 No. 36 hand grenade 02 no's 12 Other Live Ammunition 10 no's 13 7.65 X 25 mm Live Ammunition 04 no's The FIR mentions that after preliminary investigation, it was found that the unknown miscreants had kept the arms and ammunitions concealed underground with the intention to use the same in subversive activities in future.
6. It is to be mentioned that at an earlier point of time, a police case being Gossaigaon Police Station Case no. 51/2021 has been registered under Sections 120(B)/353/307, IPC read with Section 25(1-A), Arms Act, 1959 read with Sections 4/5, Explosive Substances Act, 1908 with added Sections 16(b)/18/20, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1968. The said case was registered after recovery of 5 (five) nos. of AK-56 Rifles, 8 (eight) nos. of AK-56 Magazines, 1 (one) no. of HK 33E Rifle with magazine, 1 (one) UBGL with 11 (eleven) UBGL cells, 8 (eight) nos. of Chinese hand grenades and 300 rounds of AK-56 ammunitions along with some other articles purportedly from the possessions of the accused persons involved therein. In connection with Gossaigaon Police Station Case no. 51/2021, the accused persons who have been arrested are (1) the present accused-petitioner, (2) Rabinath Narzary @ Page No.# 4/6 Ganda, (3) Pungkha Basumatary @ Langkhu, (4) Mwktang Basumatary @ Mamo, (5) Manipal Musahary, and (6) Swmkwr Basumatary.
7. After registration of Runikhata Police Station Case no. 101/2020, a prayer was made by the Investigation Officer (I.O.) of the case before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kajalgaon to show all the accused persons including the present accused-petitioner, who were in custody in connection with Gossaigaon Police Station Case no. 51/2021, arrested also in connection with Runikhata Police Station Case no. 101/2020. The accused-petitioner was produced on the basis of transit warrant before the Court of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chirang on 15.03.2021 and the prayer of the I.O. to show the accused-petitioner arrested in connection with Runikhata Police Station Case no. 101/2020 was allowed. Thus, the accused-petitioner is in custody in connection with Runikhata Police Station Case no. 101/2020 since 15.03.2021. The other 5 (five) accused persons arrested in connection with Gossaigaon Police Station Case no. 51/2021 were also produced and shown arrested in connection with Runikhata Police Station Case no. 101/2020 at an earlier point of time.
8. After considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties, the materials available in the case diary, collected during the course of investigation carried out so far, are perused. Subsequent to the recovery of the huge cache of arms and ammunitions from the jungle area of Sidhapara, the investigation has been carried out in order to find the persons involved in the act of concealment of the arms and ammunitions. The materials in the case diary go to show that the accused persons arrested in connection with Gossaigaon Police Station Case no. 51/2021 have been shown arrested on the suspicion that they might be involved also in the act of concealment of the huge cache of arms and ammunitions involved in the case in hand. The ground of suspicion, as it appears from the materials in the case diary, that these accused persons have purportedly been found in possession of arms and ammunitions earlier, as indicated herein above. All the accused persons who have been arrested, have been interrogated in custody. But on perusal of the materials in the case diary it is found that till date, no tangible materials have been collected and unearthed by the investigating authority so far so as to link the present accused-petitioner either directly or indirectly through the other arrested accused persons with the act of concealment of the Page No.# 5/6 huge cache of arms and ammunitions involved and recovered in connection with their case. When no convincing materials have been collected by the investigating authority during the course of investigation carried out so far till date to connect the accused-petitioner with the act of concealment of arms and ammunitions involved in this case, it cannot be reasonably assumed that he might be involved in this case also only because of his arrest in another case where he was arrested on the ground that he was purportedly found in possession of arms and ammunitions.
9. In view of the above fact situation obtaining in the case in hand and considering the fact that the accused-petitioner is in custody since 15.03.2021, I am of the considered view that further custodial detention of the accused-petitioner is not necessary for the purpose of carrying out further investigation of the case. If the accused-petitioner is released on bail at this stage of investigation and if he joins the investigation, the further investigation into the case is not likely to be affected in any prejudicial manner.
10. Accordingly, the accused-petitioner is allowed to be enlarged on bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 25,000/- with two local sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kajalgaon, Chirang subject to the following conditions :-
[1] The accused-petitioner shall co-operate with the investigation and make himself available for interrogation whenever required by the Investigating Officer (I.O.) of the case;
[2] The accused-petitioner shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any witness acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer;
[3] The accused-petitioner shall not obstruct or hamper the police investigation and not to play mischief with the evidence collected or yet to be collected by the police;
[4] The accused-petitioner shall maintain law and order and he shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which he is accused, or of the commission of which he is suspected; and [5] The accused-petitioner shall regularly remain present during the trial and cooperate the Court to complete the trial for the above offences, if charge sheeted in the Page No.# 6/6 case;
[6] In the event of breach of any of the conditions, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kajalgaon, Chirang shall be at liberty to cancel his bail without any reference to this Court.
11. The above observations are made on the basis of the materials available in the case diary, which has been produced before the Court, are only for the purpose of the application for bail. The investigation of the case is still in progress. It is made clear that in the event of filing of a charge sheet in the case after conclusion of the investigation, the jurisdictional trial Court would be at liberty to frame charges against the accused-petitioner on the basis of the materials placed before him and in accordance with law if such materials permit so, without any reference to and without being influenced by the observations made hereinabove.
12. This application stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
Return the case diary.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant